‘Wind of Change’ is a song by West German rock band Scorpions, recorded for their eleventh studio album, Crazy World (1990). A power ballad, it was composed and written by the band's lead singer Klaus Meine and produced by Keith Olsen and the band. The lyrics were composed by Meine following the band's visit to the Soviet Union at the height of perestroika, when the enmity between the communist and capitalist blocs subsided concurrently with the promulgation of large-scale socioeconomic reforms in the Soviet Union.
‘Wind of Change’ was released as the album's third single on 21 January 1991 and became a worldwide hit, just after the failed coup that would eventually lead to the end of the Soviet Union. The song topped the charts in Germany and across Europe and peaked at number four in the United States and at number two in the United Kingdom. It later appeared on the band's 1995 live album Live Bites, their 2000 album with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Moment of Glory, and on their 2001 "unplugged" album Acoustica.
Klaus Meine said in an interview that the time 1988/1989 in the Soviet Union was characterized by the mood that the Cold War was coming to an end, the music was the unifying factor between the peoples. The memories of this time are also transported in the music video for the song. Meine was inspired by his participation in the Moscow Music Peace Festival on 13 August 1989, at Lenin Stadium, where the Scorpions performed in front of about 300,000 fans: “The idea came to me in the U.S.S.R. when I was sitting in the Gorky Park Center one summer night, looking at the Moskva River. The song is my personal reappraisal of what has happened in the world in recent years.”
With estimated sales of 14 million copies sold worldwide, ‘Wind of Change’ is one of the best-selling singles of all time. It holds the record for the best-selling single by a German artist. The band presented a gold record and $70,000 of royalties from the single to Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991, with Soviet news sources claiming the money would be allocated to children's hospitals.
The ‘Wind of Change’ that was blowing was the fall of the Soviet Union, which is what the song is about, but when the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, the song became the unofficial anthem for the German Reunification, an event that politically lasted from the fall Wall to the official reunification on October 3, 1990. The music video plays to this interpretation, with footage of the Berlin Wall being dismantled.
Labels – Mercury, Vertigo
Songwriter – Klaus Meine
Producers – Keith Olsen, Scorpions
SONG LYRICS
[Intro](*Whistling*)
[Verse 1]
I follow the Moskva down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
An August summer night, soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change
(*Whistling*)
[Verse 2]
The world is closing in
And did you ever think
That we could be so close like brothers?
The future's in the air, I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change
[Chorus]
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away (Dream away)
In the wind of change
Hmm
[Verse 3]
Walking down the street
And distant memories are buried in the past forever
I follow the Moskva and down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
[Chorus]
Take me (Take me) to the magic of the moment
On a glory night (A glory night)
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams (share their dreams)
With you and me (You and me)
Take me (Take me) to the magic of the moment
On a glory night (A glory night)
Where the children of tomorrow dream away (Dream away)
In the wind of change (The wind of change)
[Bridge]
The wind of change blows straight into the face of time
Like a storm wind that will ring the freedom bell
For peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing what my guitar wants to say (say)
[Guitar Solo]
[Chorus]
Take me (Take me) to the magic of the moment
On a glory night (A glory night)
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams (Share their dreams)
With you and me (You and me)
Take me (Take me) to the magic of the moment
On a glory night (A glory night)
Where the children of tomorrow dream away (Dream away)
In the wind of change (Wind of change)
[Outro]
(*Whistling*)